I began scouring the internet to see if anything else worthy of my derision was out there. Nope nothing else happened so I’m going to have to talk about Musk…
This is my review of Ommegang Keep it Crunchy Granola Stout:
What you may not be aware, is an ingredient that makes Vanilla extract fail to meet requirements for Vegetarian/Vegan cuisine: Castoreum. What is Castoreum?
It is the glandular extract from adult beaver. Here is a link to eBay (where else?) on the off chance you need to purchase one for yourself! Beavers use the musk from this gland mostly to mark their territory. I cannot speak to how the secretion is interpreted by a beaver’s olfactory sense, but humans apparently find it to be pleasant.
So much so, it sometimes happens to be an ingredient in artificial vanilla extract:
Castoreum is labelled by the FDA as “generally recognized as safe.” And because of that, companies aren’t legally required to disclose when they use castoreum, often instead referring to it as “natural flavorings” in ingredient lists. But there’s a big chance that you’ve never had castoreum in your food, and likely never will.
Due to the nature of where it’s produced, castoreum is hard to extract and involves anesthetizing the beaver and “milking” its glands. Because of this, according to Fenaroli’s Handbook of Flavor Ingredients, only roughly 300 pounds are produced annually.
While its probably not in food, this did drive me to check in my pantry for such ingredients. To the surprise of absolutely nobody here, the vanilla I buy happens to come from Mexico.
What does this mean? Sin Gluten means it is gluten-free. The rest of this means: Water, ethyl alcohol, propylene glycol, vanillia, natural vanilla extract, caramel coloring, and potassium sorbate (as preservative).
Just wait until they finally tell us the truth about Girl Scout Cookies. No, they aren’t made from Girl Scouts…but they do contain soybean oil, which is one of the evil eight!
Granola Stout? A bunch of vapid, smelly hippies making beer again? Squirting their essence from anal glands all over the brewery? Thankfully, no. Bear in mind one of the key ingredients in granola is oats. Here is Alton Brown’s recipe. This is in essence an oatmeal stout, so it is nothing unusual other than Ommegang’s marketing. This beer is other wise good, a bit dryer than I anticipated but that works for a stout. 6.5% abv. Would buy again. Ommegang Keep it Crunchy Granola Stout: 3.9/5
I would have been surprised if Ommegang produced a beer that wasn’t at least “good”.
That beer looks good
Howdy Folks!
6️⃣3️⃣
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Daily Quordle 96
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Daily Quordle 96
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quordle.com
⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜⬜⬜⬜?
⬜⬜?⬜⬜ ⬜?⬜?⬜
????? ⬜⬜⬜?⬜
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⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜?⬜⬜⬜
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Quordle likes to think it’s funny.
You got the TL with 2 greens on the third round? Damn, I suck at this.
I took the bait.
#metoo. Well played.
Me three. I did not anticipate the surprise ending.
Musk, must, mush, muse
Vanilla is the fruit of an orchid plant, which grows in the form of a dark brown bean pod that is long and skinny. Vanilla orchids are grown in tropic climates, including Mexico, Tahiti, Reunion, Mauritius, Comoro, Indonesia, Uganda, and Tongo. Three-fourths of the world’s supply comes from Madagascar. Vanilla is enjoyed throughout the world. The beans are used to add real vanilla flavor to sauce, frosting, syrup, ice cream, beverages, and a variety of desserts.
When we lived overseas my Mom would make vanilla essence by buying a small bottle of vodka (don’t recall where since Indonesia was kinda dry depending on location – maybe a Chinese shop) and steeping vanilla beans in it for a month or two.
I did the same from vanilla beans I purchased on Bali. It worked very well in my coking.
Typo or not, I like it.
*jots down business plan for flavored cocaine*
As long as it’s not menthol.
I’m thinking pumpkin spice, for starters.
Great, just what we need; a bunch of coked up Karens.
Yep, it’s kind of impressive how many things the cultures of Mesoamerica have given us.
Afternoon everyone. Hope all is well here in Glibersville.
The sun is shining and the air is fresh. I’ll be doing some yard work while the corned beef turns to Pastrami on the smoker.
Excellent! I have a flat in some brine right now to corn it and will be doing what you are…making pastrami.
Cured meats FTW
Watching Last Kingdom again. Father Beocca is badass.
A well done show, DEATH!!!
DEATH!!!
Sister Hild is even more badass
Better than Vikings in it’s own way, Alfred was played well.
I accept both as a dramatic telling of my people.
RoBert agrees,
Sister Hild, oh your time has come,
And you know that you’re the only one to say OK….
Last Kingdom, I gave you my heart,
But the very next day, you gave it away….
Nothing else matters
Also doesn’t matter
More hate music.
Your hate don’t matter
Huh. The musk extraction is certainly news to me. “Natural” but blurgh.
I have always hated imitation vanilla. I can tell the difference immediately. I wonder if the musk is what I detect, or just some lab-created shit?
Since I can’t stand imitation vanilla, I detest Captain Morgan and most other “spiced” rums.
Vanilla and saffron used to be expensive, thus the substitutes and fakes, but now they are abundant and cheap. Is it really cheaper to extract beaver gis than to grow vanilla beans??
Are authentic vanilla (and especially saffron) really cheap?
Seriously, I haven’t looked at the prices on either.
Vanilla is expensive but a little goes a long way, like saffron.
Vanilla beans have gone up about an order of magnitude in the last four or five years. Men with guns are manipulating the supply chain (to the best of my recollection).
Weather/crop failures and increasing demand.
https://researchblog.duke.edu/2021/06/25/in-the-world-capital-of-vanilla-production-nearly-three-out-of-four-farmers-say-they-dont-have-enough-to-eat/
The vanilla market is subject to extreme volatility, with prices varying by an order of magnitude from year to year. Vanilla is also a labor- and time-intensive crop; it requires specific growing conditions of soil, humidity, and shade, it takes at least 3 years from planting to the first crop. Without the natural pollinators in its home range of Mexico, Malagasy vanilla requires hand pollination by the farmers, and whole crops can be devastated by natural disasters like disease outbreaks and cyclones. Further, the high price of vanilla brings with it ‘hot spending,’ resulting in cycles of boom and bust for impoverished farmers. Because of the high price, vanilla is often stolen, which leads farmers to spend weeks in their fields guarding the vanilla from thieves before harvesting. It also leads to early harvests, before the vanilla beans have completely ripened, which degrades the quality of the final products and can exacerbate price volatility.
I bought several bottles for trade goods, not too expensive, but I think it will become scarce soon enough
I wonder if the musk is what I detect, or just some lab-created shit?
Supposedly it’s not that there’s extra stuff. It’s that the fake stuff is missing some flavor components.
They can fairly easily synthesize vanillin, the primary component, from coal, petroleum, cow shit, or wood pulp. However, it tastes flat because all of the other components you get in real beans. I’m guessing the beaver juice is trying to add some of those other components back in.
I think I rented “Beaver Juice” on VHS back in the 1990’s.
*googles*
First Linky for beaver stinky.
Vanillin synthesized from other chemicals is an artificial flavor.
Vanillin extracted from bacterial secretions is a natural flavor.
There are two types of Saffron. One is produced in Spain and is relatively affordable, the one truly sought after however, is only grown in Iran. I’ll ping the Old Man and Spud for further details.
Its highly work intensive, and as it happens the US will not trade with Iran, hence the $20 sticker price for a pinch of the stuff.
(taps side of nose) You can buy it in Turkey. Because it has Turkish labels you can import it.
*nods*
In other news, DailyMail is skewering the Ministry of Truth czarina as their top headline in the US edition.
She’s a nutter.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10770479/Bidens-new-disinformation-czar-not-removed-apologized-tweets-masks-Trump.html
Nina Jankowicz, 33, has been appointed executive director of the Department of Homeland Security’s Disinformation Governance Board
She also tweeted in 2016 that she thought a Donald Trump presidency would embolden ISIS, even though it fell under his administration
And she expressed her support for Chris Steele, whose infamous Russian dossier was later discredited
Jankowicz has also found herself under fire for old videos of her singing about people not taking the pandemic seriously
In one video, she sings about misinformation, and in another she praises Sen. Elizabeth Warren
Republicans are now calling on Biden to get rid of the misinformation board
The whole thing is so ridiculous. It makes you wonder they’re distracting us from this time.
“Calling to get rid of the board” = the least of it. Mayorías should be fired, both for this and many other things. But he’s doing what the power blob wants so he stays.
What would be interesting is if the Republicans, after the election, made a concerted effort to impeach Mayorkas for violating his oath to defend the Constitution. It won’t happen but I can dream.
The Twitter feed from her new agency (https://twitter.com/USMiniTru) is pretty honest, I’ve gotta say.
LOL that’s fantastic
When I first heard of the singing video, I thought it was irrelevant shit from her teen years. Like with AOC doing the Breakfast Club skit.
These aren’t old videos though if they’re about the pandemic. It’s recent and absolutely relevant to her appointment as Director of the Ministry of Truth.
It scares me that between the weird Day in the Life at WH and this nutter thethat. media is like…yay we cool with this.
Children are running our government while the old senile man is left to rot.
They’re on the same team.
True.
Mexican vanilla is good, coumarin not so much.
“Squirting their essence from anal glands all over the brewery?”
hawt
Good lord that sounds like my wife’s daily journal
Would read.
You had me at squirt; lost me at ‘anal glands’.
A long time ago here I asked whose bright idea it was to suck on beaver anal glands and eat bee vomit. Still waiting on the first one.
My best guess is French fur traders cut the gland while skinning the varmints and thought “hmm, that smells delicious”.
I’m guessing Heroic Mulatto is the answer.
I think the answer there is always ‘people will eat anything if they’re hungry enough”.
With that in mind, who figured out that lobster or crab tasted better once it was boiled instead of raw out of the ocean.
I wonder about tapioca:
Hey! Joe ate this and is paralyzed!
Lets just cook it some more, then it should be safe to eat!
Probably the same people that thought it was a good idea to dry out leaves, burn them, and breathe in the smoke for a buzz.
Say, MS, could I tempt you to send me a bottle of the good stuff? Madagascar vanilla at my local hoity toity shop is $120 for a half quart.
You sound desperate. Almost like David Lee Roth
I love that album.
https://www.amazon.com/Mexican-Vanilla-Molina-Vainilla-Vanillin/dp/B0002QEL98/ref=asc_df_B0002QEL98?tag=bngsmtphsnus-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=80127027724166&hvnetw=s&hvqmt=e&hvbmt=be&hvdev=c&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=&hvtargid=pla-4583726554017592&th=1
There was a Mexican “double strength” vanilla extract I used to buy when I lived in Bryan. It was “double strength” because they added vanillin to real vanilla extract. There was enough of the other components form the natural extract that the final product was very good.
Looks like this is similar. Although…
This is a beer review I can use. I have passed by that beer many times because of the name. I thought it would be hippie shit. Thanks for correcting me MS.
Hippie shit?
I knew what that was before I clicked. The last woman I (seriously) dated, (OG-2X-OG) told me how, as an angsty teen she was dark, brooding, and into the Smiths. And when she heard SOHO stole that hook from ‘How Soon Is Now’ she was outraged for weeks.
Excellent!
Has any Glib had their air ducts cleaned (not a euphemism)? I keep seeing ads and am wondering if it improves AC efficiency.
https://aeroseal.com
If you have leaky ducts, this will do more than a cleaning.
Thanks but I don’t think they are leaky. I have been in the house 9 years. It’s over 20 years old and I doubt anything has ever been done to the ducts. I can’t tell if cleaning them is helpful or unnecessary.
I thought the primary purpose was to improve air quality?
That’s another claim but I’m not worried about it.
It doesn’t
Why not?
At the most, you just loosened up dust that wasn’t going anywhere and the negative pressure on the ductwork can collapse it, or create leaks.
the whole venture is very fly by night.
IAQ is achieved at the return to the equipment, if things are in the ductwork you have larger isssues.
Thanks. You probably saved a bunch of us money with that advice.
No worries, look me up before spending a dime on HVAC/R I can save you cash and misery,
Cheers!
+1 check the thermostat
I don’t have ducted heat. But when my aunt had her house weatherized a shit ton of blown insulation somehow made it’s way into the ducts and blocked them. She only had them cleaned because some small chunks had been blown out, but once they were cleaned it turned out some had been completely blocked and her system worked a hell of a lot better.
Thanks
5 minutes with an anerometer would tell the tale in detail,
That sounds like something you could use on beaver glands.
Thats the analmometer.
Remember the analmo!
Get to use one of these when I do ship inspections. You would not believe the degraded ventilation I have to report in all sorts of occupational health and sanitary spaces – consistently a major issue – also corrosion in cooling coils/fan rooms and dirty filters. Worst part is when they “install” pipes and other “upgrades” that block the filter access hatches. Learning a lot from this tour.
oops…that’s anemometer – not sure if Yusef’s tool is different. I measure FPM and calculate to CFM to validate enough air changes per hour.
Paging Yusef…
Yes. Had them sealed afterwards. Not so much to improve efficiency as to clean the indoor environment.
It might damage your ductwork if done improperly, OTOH
If you keep your filters changed you don’t need to waste the money,
HVAC/R Guy
Thanks Yusef.
I’ve had my ducks in a row, but I’ve never had them cleaned.
I don’t think I would bother with it. Any dirt that’s in the ducts will be there forever unless you increase the airflow somehow. All that dust has fallen out because the velocity is below the critical entrainment velocity, and it won’t get picked up again unless the flow increases to significantly higher values.
Keep your filters clean, and occasionally inspect and clean (or have cleaned) the evaporator coils to make sure they’re at their best heat transfer efficiency.
I just said that in Customer speak, fancy boy with your big terms…..
Sorry, I didn’t read too far before writing my own reply. Yours was more succinct and of course, just as correct.
I’ve been dealing with some issues with an industrial dust collection system that our consulting engineering firm fucked up–they oversized all the ducts and our facilities engineers never asked for our (Process engineering) opinion and approved for construction, so if we ever tried to start the thing up, it would pack full of dust within a couple of weeks. Good thing we found it–bad thing our facilities guys had their head up their asses.
And while you’re at it (sort of), clean your dryer ducting.
Thankfully, no.
Keep telling yourself that, if it helps you sleep at night.
LCDR_Fish, listening to that podcast you linked to earlier, the excerpt from the presidential debate is amazing.
TRUMP: “If this is true, he’s a corrupt politician getting money from Ukraine, China, Iraq…”
MODERATOR: “Mr. President, I want to get back to talking about race!”
Yeah…didn’t see that one get picked up on in 2020 – but Carolla’s just a gem at this point.
Has any Glib had their air ducts cleaned (not a euphemism)?
Get a ferret.
Today has turned out to be much nicer than forecast. This, combined with a tidbit of info I accidentally tripped over (there is a high school lacrosse tournament in Pocatello this weekend) makes me think I should get out of my little tin dog kennel and venture out into the sunshine. Who knows, there might be some MILFy young 47 year olds out and about, to stimulate my glandular excretions.
I also need something from Home Depot.
Sadly I probably won’t venture out.
Not even to go MILF hunting?
I’m not feeling confident right now. I need to end the cycle of substance abuse and slovenliness first, I think.
This whole article seems written to attract Swiss. I smell a narrowed gaze incoming.
You got me.
Jazz Fest started yesterday. WWOZ.org has live-streaming, of course.
Silicone Saturday bounces on!
https://archive.ph/dw37W
Q, maybe a degenerate like you would find this amusing. Someone made a Youtube playlist (NSFW) of some kind of awful techno/violin/sax ensemble that plays on the beach in Ibiza, definitely because they love the music, not because the crowd invariably includes topless, dancing European chicks.
?
I thought that was a documentary about tatts gone wrong with age. *blech* *stop that*
I can’t imagine the current set of 25-35 year old hipsters will look anything but ridiculous in their old age. I know people who literally have ironic tattoos (one a picture of a raccoon that says “trash panda”, and the other with a mashup of the Wu-Tang logo done in the Hello Kitty style. In both cases, on their forearms!
Sounds like they already look rediculous.
Yes.
Far less sexy – about a month ago, Scruffy linked to cats puking to techno. I don’t know why, but the 1st time I saw that, I couldn’t breathe for laughing too hard.
Ah, memories.
Holy shit, that’s hilarious.
That’s pretty delightful. I bet Jesse from Manhattan Beach or wherever would enjoy it.
Back from the mountains. Never go hiking in the mountains with people half your age. Although one of them took the best picture of Lily that I have. Cat mountain has an excellent view, Thomas less so. This time Freya was added to the group, and since she loves water almost as much as Lily, there was much swimming and stick retrieving.
Clearly they brought you along so that when time came to run away from the bear, they knew there would be someone they could outrun.
Silly kids, I was the only one armed.
Speaking of arms, I’ll be shooting at your club next Saturday.
What if he makes sure to keep the club locked up out of view?
But were you loaded for bear?
What event is at WFGPA?
USPSA monthly match.
https://practiscore.com/wps-uspsa-monthly-match-may-2022-2/
RIP Naomi Judd
Well, there goes one pair of Judds. I forget who did that joke on SNL Weekend Update. Norm? Dennis?
RIP.
Soooo, mowed my front yard this afternoon and then got some “planting” done. 2 large flower pots and 3 small ones – and put out potting soil on both sides of the house – then planted (ie. tossed some seeds down) for my anti-mosquito, etc plants – basil, mint, lemon balm, lavender, catnip, etc. (hope the catnip also attracts some cats that might scare the birds away from pooping/nesting near the house).
That said…if I don’t start seeing any sort of germination in a couple weeks, I may try buying some pre-sprouted stuff from the local nursery like I did last summer. Was thinking about starting some sprouts indoors all winter, but kept drawing a blank on where I could place a planter to get daily sunshine. Of course…this afternoon once I’m done – I finally hit on the shelf in my bathroom that faces South and gets several hours of daily sunlight (nearly every day)….sigh…I’ll try buying a small indoor planter and some more seeds tomorrow to see if that might also be a backup plan.
—
separate note – cooking question…want to try some spaghetti sauce in the slow cooker tomorrow – a few jars of store sauce (my traditional “home made” hasn’t been great to date), a can of tomatoes, olives – and then obviously more spices, etc. I also want to put in a pound of ground beef and a diced kielbasa. Sooo…if the beef is totally thawed – is it reasonable to consider “cooking” it in the slow cooker for several hours mixed in with everything else – or would it be better to brown in a pan prior to adding – the “traditional” way.
Brown it first, it keeps the texture longer, IME
That’s what I figured. Never tried anything with ground beef in the slow cooker yet.
Browning the meat separately also provides an opportunity to remove excess fat and water from the meat before adding it to the sauce, and can give you a nice fond on the bottom of the pan to deglaze and get all that flavor.
“remove excess fat”
?
https://www.tasteofhome.com/article/add-butter-to-pasta-sauce/
? That looks easy enough to even try
Hmmm…may add some butter. My primary sauce right now will be 2 32oz jars of Rao Tomato/Basil pasta sauce – will probably add garlic, chunky tomatoes and then the beef and kielbasa.
Will wind up with a lot of sauce, but I always find things to do with it afterwards (and I want to have enough in the slow cooker to take up some volume).
“Rao’s”
⬅
I would put a bedding mix down (here they use aged mushroom compost or manure mixed with fine pine bark) on the soil and sprout seeds in potting soil in small pots, but your way might work too.
We’ll see….I think the bedding mix is the same as the compost/potting mix I used….just haven’t tried planting from the packet in a LONG time (other than some squash last year). At least I finally figured out where I can try sprouting stuff separately…
Yeah, the only difference is that sometimes potting mixes are so light (containing perlite and finely ground compost) that they will blow away, wash away in the rain, or just break down. Once the seeds come up you can put a heavier mulch around them so that doesn’t happen. Most seedlings aren’t vigorous enough to push their way up through a mulch layer.
Sometimes I add a clove or two to pasta sauce–you might be surprised how good it is.
Also, if it needs sweetening at all, consider using malt extract instead of sugar. That can really make a pasta sauce pop.
Checking in from Greensboro NC. Used cruise control for about 80% of the trip, so I’m not totally pooped.
Glad things are going well.
Also, there’s an EMS convention at the hotel, so I may have to scope the lobby for hotness
mmm take secret photos and we can have a special edition of — gosh, I don’t even remember was it Hot Dude Mondays?
“Manly Mondays” rolls off the tongue better.
Are we still not doing “phrasing”?
Nope. Too hard to swallow.
These puns make me gag.
Manly Mondays
Did you previously post which one you had actually bought?
Did you do US 29S down? Such a better drive than I95 even if adding time to the total drive.
95 to 85…only traffic was the usual between Occoquan & Fredericksburg. I avoided a lot of it by using the toll lanes all the way to Aquaia.
If/when you head back up….you could do US 29 all the way up to I-66. Beautiful, great speed limits (only traffic when it goes directly through Cville) – but you could also cut across to I-81 before Cville and take that up to I-66 too. 29 south of Cville to Greensboro is great though.
66 & 81 are a bit indirect from Travelers Rest. The usual fastest (heading north) believe it or not, is I26 to US74 to I85 to I95.
Someone posted this a while back (maybe HM?) – https://milkimchi.com/ – and I’m interested in getting some kimchi now for some dishes I want to work on…but I’d prefer just a jar at a time rather than a minimum order of $50+ and 6 jars….
Anyone have any other suggestions for something quick and basic?
Thanks.
I assume you don’t have an asian market, Japanese ones and the bigger ones like 99 Ranch will have kimchi, too. Here, at least, dunno about elsewhere. Also the regular supermarket may have some in the refrigerated ‘specialty’ section – sometimes where they keep the vegan cheese (since it’s a Probiotic) or sometimes in the cold case near the salad dressings. Obviously some will be better/more authentic than others, but if you just want a jar at a time, check there.
Yeah…I might need to google again for asian markets – my folks use a lot in Durham, NC and I don’t think they’ve seen it recently when I asked.
Here is a speculative thread on what the map of Ukraine may look like after the situation is resolved (I would just post the entire text here but you have to click to see the map). Basically Russia annexes the east, south including the entire Black Sea coast, and Transnistria. Poland, Slovakia and Hungary grab some bits in the east. Ukraine winds up being landlocked and comparable in size to Belarus.
I’m not convinced that any result is set in stone at this point, personally. For example, maybe Russia prefers to have a neutral but very friendly republic called Novorossiya on their border as a buffer. Or maybe western civilization is ended by nuclear winter and the few remaining humans have to return to hunting using reindeer antler spear tips.
Er, he’s speculating Poland, Slovakia and Hungary grab territory in the *west*, on their borders. I’m not sure how that would be seen in the Western media which has made Ukraine out to be heroic resisters.
An ex-soviet guy at the park speculates that after Russia goes limping back, China will annex Siberia.
He also once said “Siberia is not that cold.”
“Not that cold” compared to what? Antarctica? lol
I hope no one puts money on his predictions.
I cannot speak to how the secretion is interpreted by a beaver’s olfactory sense, but humans apparently find it to be pleasant.
The fuck? I’ve seen Jeremiah Johnson and that is some kind of hipster bullshit there.
Apparently it’s used in both vanilla and raspberry flavorings, somehow.
Somehow, I manage to write myself into situations where I have to come up with dialog for an unhinged racist cannibal schoolteacher.
I should stop drawing inspiration from real life.
According to the NYT, all you have to do is watch Tucker Carlson for inspiration!
I’m already swapping out the racist bit for classist, as it is less volatile a character trait.
I’m doing everything I can to find a plaintiff that will allow me to sue the Disinformation Bureau somehow; I want to tee those fuckers up in a lawsuit so bad I can taste it.
I can’t believe that anyone – ANYONE – says “misinformation” in a discussion about the 1A and doesn’t get immediately laughed at and hectored from the public square.
As if the people who wrote the Constitution hadn’t hashed over- and lived – all of these kinds of arguments about misinfo, disinfo, angry words/provocations, etc.
Like… we’re just now confronting this idea and it hasn’t already been talked about and discussed and debated to death by people infinitely smarter than the current morons.
If I’m being honest with myself, I think I don’t mind that we’re being run by authoritarians as much as I mind that they’re complete fucking morons. IOW, I would still hate smart authoritarians, but I think I’d be a lot less offended by those going along.